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Postman Pat's ABC
:This article is about the '''home video release'. For the book, see Postman Pat's ABC Story.'' Postman Pat's ABC Story is the first of two educational specials that was released to video on October 10th, 1990. Summary Pat helps Tom Pottage learn his letters by making him a red ABC notebook. Words in the ABC Book *A: **Ant **Add **Apple **Apricot *B: **Bike **Butter **Big Bad Bee *C: **Cat **Cream **Cake **Cod *D: **Dog **Dish **Donkey *E: **Egg *F: **Frog **Fish-fingers **Flan **Foil *G: **Goose **Gun (1990 VHS Only) **Granny **Glove **Gum-Drop *H: **Hat **Hen *I: **Ice Cream *J: **Jack **Jam **Jelly **"Just the Job" *K: **Kipper **Kettle *L: **Lark **Ladder *M: **Melon **Mouse *N: **Nutty Nougat *O: **Organ **Orange *P: **Pie **Peas **Potatoes **Pancakes *Q: **Queen *R: **Rainbow *S: **Sausages **Sweetcorn *T: **Tractor **Tom *U: **Umbrella *V: **Vase *W: **Watch *X: **Xylophone *Y: **Yellow *Z: **ZOO Characters *Pat *Jess *Ted Glen *Mrs. Pottage *Katy and Tom Pottage *Granny Dryden *Peter Fogg *Alf Thompson (does not speak) *Dorothy Thompson (does not speak) *The Reverend Timms (does not speak) *Lucy Selby (does not speak) *Miss Hubbard (does not speak) *Sam Waldren (does not speak) *The School Teacher (mentioned) *Mr Pottage (mentioned) Vehicles *PAT 1 *SAM 1 *The Yellow Tractor *Miss Hubbard's bicycle Locations *Post Office *Greendale Farm *Greendale School *The Church Differences in the book and TV versions *The ant was on Pat's hand in the book and in a small tin in the TV version. *Tom writes 'b is for butter' in the book at tea in the book and at breakfast in the TV version. *Tom has an egg for tea in the book and at breakfast in the TV version. *During the ladder scene, in the book Pat rescues Jess from the tree, while in the TV version he has to recover his keys from the tree. *Melon and mouse are switched around in the TV version. *During the 't' section Pat's van breaks down in the book, while in the TV version it gets stuck in the mud. *The sale during the 'v' section is at the school in the book, while it is at the village hall in the TV version. *Tom plays the xylophone on Thursday in the book, but on Friday in the TV version. *Pat, Katie and Tom go to the zoo on Saturday in the TV version, but on Friday in the book version the zoo happens as the school trip. Trivia *This special was based on a Postman Pat Beginners book written by John Cunliffe and published by Andre Deutsch in 1986 (which also came with a story audio cassette read by Ken Barrie). *A new version of the theme music was made for this special. *The scenes of Pat climbing the tree to get his keys and the post van getting stuck in the mud in are based on the stop motion scenes from the episodes Postman Pat and The Magpie Hen and The Sheep In The Clover Field. It is possible this special could be set right after the events of Postman Pat Takes A Message. *In the original 1990 version, there is a scene where Tom puts his Dad's gun in his ABC. This was removed from the later version, due to complaints from parents. *This special includes the music from Series 1 and the instrumentals of the songs Miss Rebecca Hubbard, The Handyman and Jess The Cat. *This is the only episode to feature Alf Thompson's dog. It is also the first episode to feature a dog. Another dog belonging to Peter Fogg would make it's debut in Read Along With Postman Pat. *This is the first Postman Pat episode to made in 2D animation. *This is the first episode where the characters have eyebrows. *This episode marks the first time the characters move their lips. *This is the only Postman Pat episode where a gun is seen. Although the gun is only present in the original 1990 version. *This is the only Postman Pat episode to have two versions. The later one has new sound effects added in and the dialogue and music has been changed around. *The scene where Pat waits for Peter to tow him out of the mud is different compared to the original stop motion scene. Pat is stood in front of his van, instead of sitting on the wall and Jess is inside the van. Also, the tractor comes alongside the van instead of in the opposite direction. The tractor also continues to pull the van along instead of Peter getting off the tractor and taking the tow rope off as in the original scene. The Royal Mail logo is also seen on the side of the van, where as in the original episode, the crown logo was used, as the show did not have permission to use the Royal Mail logo at the time and Tom is seen on screen where as he wasn't in the original stop motion episode. *In the original version during the second scene in the church, two tunes seem to be played at once on the organ. This is fixed in the later version with just the instrumental to the Farmer's song being used. This is also the first episode to use the instrumental since Postman Pat's Foggy Day . *Two music pieces from Charlie Chalk are used in this special, first in the scene where the rainbow appears and at the end when the giraffe appears and Katie says "Y is for yellow, on the giraffes neck." *At the bring and buy sale in the later version, a woman can be heard shrieking. *In both versions, during the "F" and "G" sections, the instrumental to the theme song is played. *This special contains two extra bits of music. The first can be heard at the beginning before the camera moves down to the Post Office. The second can be heard just before Pat and Tom add the "B" section into the ABC and also before the narrator says "On Tuesday, Pat's van was stuck in the mud." It is possible these were originally going to be included in the first series, but weren't in the end for time reasons. The Tractor also has a horn which was absent in the original episode. The horn would later be used for one of the buses at the football ground in Postman Pat's 123. *A man resembling Alf Thompson can be seen in the opening titles. *The zoo and the beach make their first and only appearance in this special. *This is the first and only episode where Pat's van has a puncture and also the first and only episode to feature a jack for a vehicle in the series. In the later version of the special, the travelling music is cut off after the scene of the jack is shown. This edit was left alone in the original version. *The music that was heard during Katie and Tom's birthday party in Postman Pat's Finding Day is played during the school sequence, however the music has been extended in this episode as in the very first episode of the series, it was cut off when Pat said goodbye to Katie and Tom and their friends. *The close up shot of Pat looking towards the camera while he is driving the van and Jess looking out of the window on the right hand side was only included in the intro. It was never featured in the main episode itself. *This is the first episode where the van can be heard backfiring. This sound effect would later be used in the specials and several episodes throughout the second series. *Dawn and Countryside Waltz is played near the end of the episode. Goofs *Lions and tigers could not be kept together in the same exhibit in a zoo. *In the scene at the beginning where Pat gets ready to leave after he has put the Post into his van and also in the scene where Peter is towing Pat's van, when Pat says "Off we go, Jess." his lips do not move. *The cap Ted is wearing is a different colour compared to the one he wore in the original television series. *The Pottage family have different coloured clothing compared to their television series models. *The hat Miss Hubbard wears is red instead of brown. Category:Television Series Category:Episodes Category:Spin-Offs Category:Specials